I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: few professional economists understand economics as well as does Sheldon Richman – who is not formally trained as an economist – understands economics. In this way, Sheldon is very much like Bastiat was. Here’s a slice from Sheldon’s most-recent essay on Bastiat:

We might call Bastiat’s theory a labor-spared theory of value. But when you recall that for Bastiat a thing has to be found useful for it to be a valuable good, there is perfect harmony with the theory of subjective marginal utility: Given that I find a good useful, what’s the best way for me to obtain a unit of it? If someone is willing to furnish it to me, what service must I render in return to that person? Can I obtain the unit on better terms either by making it myself or by exchanging services with someone else?

I share Jonah Goldberg’s opinion of Hillary Clinton. Why this woman – who, like the typical politician she is, lusts so lasciviously for power – is regarded as fit to hold the power for which she so obviously lusts is a mystery to me. (Of course, the same is true for nearly every politician – male or female; black, white, or other-colored; straight, gay, or bi; tall, short, or average; fat, skinny, or middlin'; alive, dead, or comatose. The very fact that someone seeks such power and to be in that sort of spotlight speaks volumes about his or her character – and what is spoken is deeply unflattering.)